BYOB Venue

Have your tried a community center?

My venue needs for us to hire a bartender and bring our own alcohol for our guests, but we are in Illinois. I will tell you though, it's not as easy as it sounds. In retrospect I wish I had booked an all inclusive venue, with catering and a full bar. Make sure you take into consideration you will end up with a lot of vendors bringing everything in. I had to hire a day of coordinator because there were too many moving parts (vendors). I wish you the best of luck! I choose Binny's to provide our alcohol...they deliver and they also let you return anything that isn't opened if you over buy.

ChristineKyle,

Thank you for your suggestion. I'd be open to other titles if you have a better one in mind. I certainly do not want our guests to provide their own beverages.

Adoretamm, I haven't really tried anything. We have been engaged under a week and she has been out of town for most of it already :-) I'm just trying to do some pre-planning to alleviate some stress for her on her return. I know this is something we both want. Pardon my ignorance, but what is a community center?

Shannon, I don't mind putting in a bit of effort on my part. We are really focusing on a reception, and as bad as this sounds, booze is a big part of our life. I was very much in to wine, she was very much in to craft brews (backwards I know). I felt it was one of the things we both shared with eachother and brought us together. We want to showcase some of those selections to share with our guests.

Thank you for all the posts so far!

I would visit different locations as well. I am not sure how to select that in a search, but we ended up at a venue where we have to BYOB (provided by bride/groom) - just like you are looking for.

ETA: I honestly am not sure there is a way. I think you will have to call venues to get quotes. Or you can use theknot.com website. I like the forum of WW better (for the community aspect), however, I did use both sites when looking for venues.

https://www.theknot.com/marketplace/wedding-reception-venues-phoenix-az#prompt

I live in Phoenix. We're having our wedding at WhisperingTreeRanch.com and we're providing our own beer and alcohol. We do have to use their bartender for liability purposes. He's actually really good at making an old fashioned and Manhattan though. My FH and his family are big into Bourbon. Collecting, tasting, etc. I know they're opening a new venue in downtown Phoenix that's more industrial. Try talking to Jenny. She's the owner and super cool.

Excellent. Thank you Alexis.

We almost selected a venue that was BYOB and it would have been more of a hassle in my opinion. We would have had to get an insurance policy, purchase the alcohol, and hire a bartender who is TIPS certified. It was easier to just go with a venue that serves alcohol.

Our Venue is BYOB. We hired out own bartenders and they are bringing the booze. They are also our caterer so they will get the permits and everything. Most venues try all inclusive so its less stress. Our venue is pretty much a building with tables. We have to provide everything else. So maybe look into places like that?

@Larry ~ Sorry you can't search by 'cost' in the vendor catalog yet ... it's coming!

Many venues have already posted their pricing in the 'Pricing & FAQ' section of their WW page, so you can easily look at it to see basic costs. Also, under 'Bar Services' there is a check box for 'Outside Alcohol' ~ if it's checked, then they allow it! This should help you research and compare ~

Thank you so much Christina. I'll give that a try.

This isn't necessarily the direction that you are going in, but we are lovers of craft beer, so we chose a local brewery as our venue.

We were thinking of that also sjd. The problem there is not all of our guests are. Some are in to wine, some beer and some spirits. I want to make sure to have a good mix and availability for all of them.

Also, Christina, Perhaps I'm blind, but I'm not seeing a section for "Bar Services" when looking at venues. Perhaps I'm going to the wrong place? I go to Vendors --> Venue. From that page, the "filter by" on the left doesn't have that catagory.

The wine was very important to me as well; our hotel allows outside wine, though there is a corkage fee. However, with the steep bulk discount we got from the winery, it was actually pretty much a wash, cost-wise. You might want to keep that option in mind.

@Larry, the brewery we are having our reception at has a full service bar. It's not just their beer.

Which one is it SJD? We will actually be new to the PHX area. We have been living in Tucson but move up this week. So far I've tried a few up there from a weekend trip, but certainly don't know the entire scene.

Try looking at non traditional venues, like places owned by towns or historical societies. they may not provide the alcohol because they don't want to carry the insurance. you would just need an insured bartender most of the time and then you can provide your own.

The Croft Downtown!! you have to use a licensed bartending company but you can bring in your own alcohol or choose a package with a bartending company that provides it all for you